A Diamond's Demise
by Dekkasaurus
Summary: Pink Diamond wants only the best for Gemkind. Rose Quartz offers the solution.


a theoretical sequel to _A Diamond's Descent_! sorry for the lack of anything from me lately!  
written in light of the Wanted special  
just a heads up: this doesn't exactly fit with the first one, but it moulds and rewrites it. you don't have to read the first to read this one!

* * *

A Diamond's Demise

A figure stood in the blinding white of the domain. On the walls, paintings and etching of various colonised planets, some successful, some burnt out. Pass the door was winding hallways that only the regulars could navigate without confusion. Behind the radiant figure, a painting on the wall resembled a matriarch, hair striking and pose regal.

A grey palanquin rested in the centre of the throne room. A small Gem positioned rigidly at the base of it. Another, more lithe Gem stood opposite.

Reports in hand written on organic parchments (a rarity really, with technology forwarding) were unfolded neatly in her hands, the looming being, as she moved from behind the palanquin. Her mural captured her perfectly as she strutted to the middle of the room.

They needed a cover up. Nobody could hear about a traitorous diamond.

"Sapphire, what do you foresee if I am to confront her?" she asked the smaller Gem, heel turning to face her with a curious look. A glint of colour perhaps in those monochrome eyes.

Sapphire's voice was steady. "You will be victorious."

"Victorious how?"

"You will be proven correct, and Pink Diamond will receive justice."

"Justice _how_?"

"There are many possibilities, My Diamond. Uneasy alliance, trial, dissipation, shattering."

She felt uneasy at the last option. "Very well. I wonder how Yellow and Blue will take this."

Sapphire stayed rightfully silent.

"Pearl, fetch me the other documents from Planet 046A - Earth."

The lithe Gem to the other side of the palanquin bowed. "Yes, My Diamond."

White Diamond smiled thoughtfully. "We have a war to end."

* * *

Rose Quartz made her way through the dense forest on the mountainside under the cover of night. The trees waved in the breeze, casting spooky shadows on the grass. Rose ignored them.

Two jaspers were standing guard nearby, one with lighter skin, the other a more red tone. Rose recognised the redder as a Crystal Gem, one of the more talented and trusted from her jaspers. Nonetheless, Rose sneaked by the both of them; unlike her jasper, she wasn't undercover.

The closer she got, the more guards and soldiers she spotted, the majority of them from Homeworld. Good. There couldn't be suspicions.

The palanquin rested on the top of the mountain ahead. The sounds of chatter flooded the area, making the night seem alive. Rose saw Gems of all classes; amethysts, rutiles, agates, rubies, carnelians, a few pearls by their masters (Rose longed to free them all), a sapphire, and more. Rose was blessed and cursed with the crowd.

She made her way through the trees, low to the ground, making sure to keep to the shadows. She reached the back of the palanquin, where a milky quartz stood side by side with a zircon. Both were Crystal Gems.

Zircon came up to her first. "Rose, the palanquin is very crowded tonight. No patrols have gone out on searching missions for our soldiers. I don't believe it's going to be easy to get close to Pink Diamond."

"Don't worry, Pearl is orchestrating a distraction," Rose replied with a soft voice.

"What sort of distraction, may I ask?"

Rose grinned. "Oh, you will know. As for you Dee," she addressed Milky Quartz 6DR, "Warn Pink Diamond of the distraction."

"Yes Rose."

As Dee stepped under the palanquin's spidery legs and marched to the front, Zircon raised an eyebrow at Rose.

"So are you going to tell me what you and Pearl are up to?" she asked, "Or do I have to decipher it myself?"

"You have great deciphering skills, I'm sure you can guess what's happening," Rose quipped, grinning again.

Zircon rolled her eyes amusedly. "We don't actually want to fight right now, so I presume Pearl hasn't rallied an army. A distraction, yes? It must be a beacon nearby the palanquin, close enough to get the attention of the Homeworld Gems."

"Close."

"Of course."

Rose pointed over the horizon, to a forested area at the foot of the cliff face. "There. Watch. Any minute now."

Zircon raised her eyebrows as her blue attire glinted yellow from the bright light ascending into the sky with a loud bang. After a certain altitude, the fiery light floated and started to descend.

"Is that the flare prototype that Seven and Snowflake were working on?" Zircon asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, she is an amazing technician, and paired with Snowflake, the two do wonders," Rose commented proudly, grinning at the Homeworld soldiers already forming a search party.

"What do you expect, she was raised a peridot, and she's too stubborn to give up being one."

"Oh hush, you still argue that you're right all the time just like a Homeworld zircon would do."

Zircon scoffed and smiled. "Oh please, that's because I _am_ right. Don't need to be a zircon to do that."

Rose giggled good-naturedly then ducked behind one of the palanquin legs and into the bushes as the search party fled past. Zircon stood awkwardly, trying to look in place at the back of the palanquin.

Once the soldiers were out of sight, Rose brushed the twigs and leaves off her dress and Dee came back under the palanquin legs.

"Okay, everything is looking safe, Sapphire said there isn't any Homeworld Gems around that's going to detect us," she addressed, giving a quick look behind her. "Let's go quickly just in case."

"Okay," Rose agreed in a hushed voice, beckoning Zircon to follow as she trailed Dee. The three of them walked carefully around the palanquin, teeth clenched, eyeing the Crystal Gem guards in place of the Homeworld ones. Sapphire was at the foot of the palanquin and quickly ushered Rose in, Dee and Zircon staying in position where Sapphire had been. Sapphire drew the curtains close behind her.

It was surprising how big a palanquin looked from the inside compared to the outside. Rose never understood how a diamond could fit inside, but she couldn't deny it with visual proof. Before her, sat in a towering rose pink throne, was Pink Diamond in all her glory.

Her attire was war-like, much like the humans, a scarlet coat trailing down her back and scuffing her calves. A diamond shape cut into her top a shade lighter than her skin, and she donned dark forearm length gloves to match her dark boots.

She took the regal attire look from Yellow Diamond, and the more free flowing clothes from Blue Diamond.

Sapphire wandered closer to Pink Diamond, and stood by her pearl's side. Both beckoned Rose closer.

Rose steadily sauntered closer to Pink Diamond and stood her ground as the matriarch glanced at her with her diamond pupils. Her hair was wild like a lion's mane, styled more like White Diamond's hair than the other two Diamonds.

In all honestly, Pink Diamond was stunning. Even more so when she eventually smiled at Rose.

"Hello Rose. I'm sorry about all the guards. I wish this could be easier."

"As do I."

Pink Diamond nodded respectively. "I guess we should get down to business before your time runs out."

Rose hummed her agreement.

This was the first time she'd seen Pink Diamond in person for many years. The last time she saw her was when the both of them visited the Prime Kindergarten over a hundred years ago. Where Rose's discontent boiled in her stomach as she watched the amethysts, morganites, and rose quartzes amongst many other Gems train before they left Earth.

Rose had known Pink Diamond for something like a thousand years, almost from the second she rose from the dirt. She didn't keep track. But she was a part of her personal guard, and she really _knew_ her, as her pearl and sapphire did. Pink was caring and righteous. Many times Rose had heard her talk about not wanting a colony of her own unlike her diamond counterparts. It had taken a large amount of persuasion to make her change her mind.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the quartz rich grounds that made Earth attractive to Pink Diamond; much like to Rose, it was the life. But Pink Diamond cared about her species more than the humans and thousands of other lifeforms.

At least, that's what Rose thought. She never got a reason for Pink Diamond colonising Earth before she rebelled against her.

It didn't really matter anymore.

"Have you communicated with the other diamonds as of late?" Rose asked cautiously, staring at her counterpart in the eyes.

"Sent a few messages to Blue a few Earth 'weeks' ago, told her colonisation was going fantastic and thanked her for her supervising Earth, all very mundane things," Pink Diamond admitted.

"Nothing else?"

"No, but Yellow did show concern at my stay on this planet rather than going back to Homeworld. I didn't grace her with a reason, she already knows I have every right to stay here."

"And White Diamond?"

Pink frowned. "Strangely quiet. Now, onto the real business. Recently my patrol carrying documents was ambushed by your guard. Precious information was stolen from me." Pink Diamond glared at Rose, but remained otherwise neutral. "I thought you wanted us to be on the same side. If you wanted information, we could've scheduled a time to discuss it."

Rose's brow creased. "I never sent out any of my people to intercept your Homeworld patrols. The last time the Crystal Gems had anything to do with your people was when they came here a month ago."

"Oh really?" Pink Diamond raised an eyebrow. "Then please explain how my patrol was intercepted and attacked, and all my guards said they wore uniforms bearing no diamonds."

This wasn't right. The Crystal Gems were on strict orders not to attack any Homeworld guards, only to observe and report back to headquarters with relevant information and progress on the Kindergartens.

"The Crystal Gems are all unified. All of us are on strict commands not to attack, and none would question it."

Rose thought of Bismuth.

 _None currently conscious._

Pink Diamond's eyebrow raised higher. "So are you saying another faction has broken from my guard and going against me, their Diamond?"

"Does anyone have any reason to be skeptical of you?" Rose instead asked. "Have you done anything that indicates of our… affairs?"

Pink's hands clenched. "No. I have been very clear that Homeworld and Gemkind are my allies."

Rose frowned. "Then maybe it's Gems from the other Diamonds."

"Preposterous! Blue has retreated to—to Homeworld, and Yellow hasn't lain a finger on Earth. White has been so quiet it's like she doesn't exist."

Rose thought. Pink Diamond seemed very uncomfortable at this stage, and Rose didn't want to risk her getting angry. But she had to know.

"Pink, _what_ information was stolen?"

"Written information about Homeworld stations, plans for colonisation that had been transmitted digitally to the moon base, and all accounts of our written conversations."

Rose felt Pink Diamond's aura freeze much like herself. Much like the human saying, _they felt their blood go cold_.

"I can see why you'd think the Crystal Gems would've intercepted that information, but it wasn't us. Someone out there now has potential access to what we've been planning for _years_."

Pink Diamond's fists shook. "What do we do?"

"What we planned to do. We do this and we prove that all of Gemkind can work together. That there doesn't need to be a war. We do it before that information is leaked. We do it _now_."

"Okay. Pearl? Can you grab the document?"

Pink Diamond's Pearl reached her hand in front of her belly gem and summoned a tightly bound parchment. "Yes, My Diamond."

Rose stepped forward, close to Pearl. She outstretched her hand, and Pearl laid the scroll into it.

To the side of the palanquin, a desk. Rose unrolled the document and stretched it across the surface. For whatever happened, they needed physical proof, not just words.

Pink Diamond rose from her throne and shifted her form to a smaller one temporarily. Now she only slightly towered over Rose, as opposed to her height before. Pearl followed her Diamond and summoned a crystalline writing tool. Standing shoulder to shoulder, Rose took in a breath to calm herself much like the humans had shown her.

Sapphire had retrieved Dee and Zircon from standing outside. The former two stood silent, but Zircon strode to Rose's side and read the parchment out loud.

Only a few sentences were written on it.

"Pink Diamond, on behalf of the Homeworld forces on Earth, and Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems, you both declare an era of peace for Gemkind and humankind on Earth. Pink Diamond, you swear to never to turn on your own kind, Homeworld, Crystal Gems, or any faction, nor the humans inhabiting this world, and Rose Quartz, you swear to never take another Homeworld Gem's form and pledge to end this war. Pink Diamond, Crystal Gem leader Rose Quartz, do you two wish to form an alliance to ensure that planet Earth will not be colonised to Homeworld's plans, and to be an ambassador to future hope that the Diamond Authority will bow to this decision?"

Pink Diamond and Rose signed the parchment, one after the other.

"If one or both of you is shattered, this alliance dies, and the war goes on," Zircon finished.

"Pearl, no one must get their hands on this declaration until the war has come to a standstill, do you understand?" Pink Diamond asked, returning to her royal height.

"Yes, My Diamond." And with that, Pink Diamond's Pearl placed the scroll in her gem's pocket dimension.

The alliance was sealed.

"Pink Diamond, can you rally up your patrol that was attacked? We have to gather as much information as we can about the interception. We must find out who did this," Rose asked, already a thousand thoughts flying through her mind.

"You should probably leave before the search party returns, I'll deal with whoever stole from the patrol."

"Okay." Rose nodded, but before she left, "When do we announce the alliance?"

"When it is proven necessary."

Rose didn't like that answer, but it was a better answer than none.

"Wait," Sapphire called out. A nervous twitch in her voice. "My Diamond, White Diamond's palanquin is coming to Earth."

"What? Why?"

"I… I don't know."

Pink Diamond narrowed her eyes. "Rose, you have to leave _now_."

Rose didn't like this one bit.

"Don't worry," Pink Diamond assured. "She's probably here to see the Kindergarten and colonisation progress. She'll be gone in no time, and we can rally our efforts to stop this war afterwards. Now _go_. Please."

Rose nodded. Beckoning Zircon and Dee to follow her, she left the palanquin cautiously. The Crystal Gems were still standing guard, wearing the uniform of Pink Diamond's people. The three of them snuck to the back of the palanquin, Rose keeping her body to the shadows again.

"So that's it?" Dee asked, frowning. "No public speech or anything until White Diamond leaves?"

"Of course!" Zircon snapped. "If White Diamond finds _anything_ about this alliance before we are ready to announce it, _everyone_ will be shattered and Earth will be doomed."

Rose rapt her fingers against her thigh. "It doesn't make sense. White Diamond was quiet for ages according to Pink. Why would she surprise visit Earth?"

"She's a Diamond. She doesn't care about what anyone else thinks, she'll do what she wants," Dee argued.

"Pink is our ally. Not all Diamonds are the same."

"Look, Rose, we have to go before White arrives. You heard Pink Diamond; she's here for a planetary check up."

"No." Rose gave Dee a stubborn look. "Something isn't right. White Diamond wouldn't just visit Earth without no indication. As much as she does what she wants, she would let Pink Diamond know if she was visiting. She's sneaking. She doesn't want Pink to be prepared for her visit."

"As suspicious as this is Rose, we have to leave," Zircon urged. "We stand no chance against White Diamond if she spots us."

Rose stayed quiet.

Then, "You two leave. Go to headquarters. Let everyone know of our alliance. I'm staying. I _have_ to know what's going on."

"What if White Diamond sees you?"

"She won't."

Zircon shut her mouth. Eyed Dee. Gestured her to follow her.

"Don't die Rose," she farewelled, and followed Zircon.

* * *

As Rose waited in the forest, she thought of Pearl and the distraction. The search party returned to Pink Diamond's palanquin empty handed and frustrated (most notably the rubies stamping around, one almost causing a fire until an agate yelled at her). Pearl and Garnet would've enjoyed seeing the display, most definitely Ruby herself.

Rose would see them again, she assured herself.

Evident by the search party's annoyance, she assumed Pearl made it out okay.

That was something good at least.

The first rays of sunlight pierced through the canopy when White Diamond's palanquin became visible in the slowly dawning sky. It glinted in the wakening sunlight, making it seem as if it was the sun. Through the clouds, a wild mane of mechanical hair surrounded White Diamond's signature head ship. It was daunting.

Rose felt her gem shiver.

If she wasn't careful, her cover would be blown. The forest only gave so much shadows during the day.

The grey palanquin landed not too far away from Pink Diamond's, but hidden enough to not be noticeable to people who weren't looking for it. It's transparency proved it well hidden against the forest's edges.

Rose glued herself into the bush and watched.

White Diamond stepped out, and after a few steps towards Pink Diamond's palanquin, everyone raised the diamond insignia across their chests, even the Crystal Gems. Rose silently thanked them.

White Diamond in all her purity sauntered up to the colourful palanquin. Rose watched Pink Diamond slowly descend the steps, hands on hips. Her attire swayed; White Diamond's stayed rigid.

Rose couldn't make out the words, could only hear the rumbles of their voices saying _something_.

She caught fragments of sentences, like, "…on the progress…" and, "…Earth is…"

Nothing more.

Rose frowned. Everything seemed innocent.

White Diamond stepped closer, and for one terrifying moment, her eyes flashed towards the forest where Rose was hiding.

Nobody knew what White Diamond's weapon was. There were accounts of Yellow and Blue Diamond's emotionally triggered energies, but they were only rumours. Rose witnessed Pink Diamond's that day.

She supposed they shared the same gift. They were built on the same passion after all.

Rose felt the Earth mumble, and saw the plant life curl and crawl. White Diamond noticed as well.

When White Diamond's hand shot out to Pink Diamond's gem, Rose dashed out of the forest.

When the vines crawled up White Diamond's legs, Pink Diamond screamed.

When Rose leapt up the palanquin, angry tears blurring her vision, everybody yelled her name.

When Pink Diamond's pieces clattered against the mourning grass, Rose's sword cut into White Diamond's gem.

When White Diamond's form cried out and ran, all eyes were on Rose.

No matter how many times Rose recalled that moment, she couldn't figure out what White Diamond's weapon was.

All she knew is that whatever happened, she didn't exist in the memories of the witnesses.

Rose ran. Ran to where Pink Diamond's shattered pieces were now bubbled. Ran, crying, hot-headed, wanting explanations and understanding.

Knowing when she arrived at headquarters, she'd be the reason Pink Diamond's shards were there.

* * *

White Diamond's ship travelled quickly to Homeworld. Pearl and Sapphire stayed silent, their mouth's clamped shut. Neither of them expected that, but Sapphire was aware of the possibility.

They were sworn to White Diamond and to secrecy. Nobody would know the true nature of Pink Diamond's shattering.

White Diamond's form still cried out the way a voiceless being would in pain. White Diamond made no noise other than mixed up words that Pearl and Sapphire could not understand. But her form was dying.

White Diamond never imagined her gem could be cracked.

Normally she would pilot their ship on special missions like these, but now she couldn't. Her inexperienced yet loyal pearl was at the helm instead. A pearl would be disowned for such acts unless explicitly designed for it, but this was an emergency.

When her ship landed in her quarter of Homeworld, in her palace, her domain, she managed to exit with only maximum clumsiness. Her form faltered and fell over the place, pieces going missing or being replaced by others.

She felt disgusting. A diamond never deserved to feel like this.

She thought of Pink Diamond.

 _She is not a diamond_.

There was no cure for cracked gems. There were rumours that Rebellion leader Rose Quartz could heal gems, but that was only a rumour. Surely it wasn't true.

On Homeworld, cracked gems were given mercy and shattered quickly. White Diamond wouldn't allow herself to be shattered.

Pearl and Sapphire were at her side when they tested the prototype. It had been done before - Pink Diamond's little human zoo that Blue liked to visit so often had been the first. A gem's make up uploaded digitally to train those insignificant specks of dust.

It was the only option, save for being shattered.

White Diamond's map was uploaded, her light body dying out. Her gem became a part of the building, _became the building_.

And she felt alive.

* * *

theories included: Pink Diamond & Rose were allies, White Diamond shattered Pink Diamond, White Diamond is an AI

thank u for reading!


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